CBS News reports:

The Trump administration conceded on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents did not have a warrant when they detained Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil in March, acknowledging it was “a warrantless arrest.”

Khalil’s attorneys are asking an immigration judge in Louisiana, where their client has been detained by ICE for weeks, to terminate his deportation case based on the fact that he was arrested without a warrant.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, admitted in a court filing that immigration agents typically need warrants before arresting individuals. But it argued that Khalil was arrested without a warrant due to “exigent circumstances,” alleging that agents believed the Columbia activist would “escape before they could obtain a warrant.”

Khalil’s lawyers denied that he had any plans to flee, saying in their own court filing that their client “fully complied” with the ICE agents’ demands.

“Tellingly, no agent present at the scene has ever submitted sworn or unsworn testimony that Mr. Khalil attempted to flee or otherwise posed a flight risk,” Khalil’s lawyers wrote in a court document. [Continue reading…]